The Lie I Live
by The Shadows Will
Summary: Not all of Minato died that night, not all of Naruto survived. Inspired by jbern's "The Lie I've Lived".
1. Chapter 1

The Lie I Lived.

The concept of this story is from jbern's 'The Lie I've Lived', one of my all time favorite stories. I am using it with their permission. If you haven't read any of his work I wholeheartedly suggest you do. There is a link under my favorite authors section on my page. I would really like to see this project to fruition but I'm not the most consistent writer.

So yeah I reread the part of the manga in preparation for this and I got to say at the time it was written Kishimoto still had balls. Now it's become a bunch of friendship drivel. Parts of this chapter were taken directly from the manga plagiarism be damned. Whatever, on with the show.

**This story was written with the idea that any readers would be familiar with the Naruto universe.**

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><p>Chapter 1<p>

"Yes! It's here, it's here!" Naruto yelled as his name flashed across the board. He no longer had to sit on the sideline. Now he could show these bunch of losers how it's really done. He would look so cool as he beat dog breath into the ground. And then Sakura would see that he was so much better than Sasuke.

"Haha! Lucky us." Kiba laughed. "We can definitely beat this loser can't we boy." He said to his faithful companion Akamaru. "Dead last won't know what hit him. The white puppy gave a bark in agreement.

Meanwhile a green spandex boy despaired it seemed that he would never get his chance to prove himself to his and show that a genius of hard work can do great things.

"Will the contestants please come down so we can proceed?" The raspy voice of the sickly looking proctor sounded.

Both boys jumped down from the walkway and ran over to the starting position in front of the proctor.

"The seventh match Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kiba Inuzuka!" The dark haired proctor said before bursting into a fit of coughing.

"It's like we already won! So luck eh, Akamaru?"

They were belittling him again. "Shut the hell up!" He was Naruto Uzumaki damn it the future Hokage. They couldn't talk about him like that. "And get rid of that puppy he's in the way." He said pointing to the small white dog in Kiba's arms.

Akamaru let out a low growl in response. "You idiot he's going to fight with me." Setting the dog on the ground his fur started to bristle as he glared and continued to growl at Naruto.

"Hey is that allowed?" Naruto asked the proctor.

"Both dogs and insects are considered ninja tools so there is no problem." These kids kept getting stupider and stupider every year. How could this little idiot not know that an Inuzuka fight with the aid of their hounds? Not only were they getting dumber but weaker too. Those two useless girls that knocked each other out were undeniable proof. The pink haired one he could understand, but a Yamanaka should have done better.

Fine so Kiba needed help, he was just that weak. "Whatever you need the help." The orange clan ninja said to his opponent.

"You know what you're so weak I don't need Akamaru's help. Boy I'll take him on alone." The dog whined in response.

Back up on the walkways more verbal jousting was taking place. "Sorry Kakashi but there is no way that Kiba is going to lose." The red eyed beauty that led team 8 said to the lay faced Jonin. From all accounts the boy only got as far as he had on dumb luck and the good graces of the Hokage.

"I don't know about that, Naruto is a very surprising kid." The man seemed completely unworried. It would probably do his student good to lose, maybe it would make him see that there were stronger people out there and he needed to take his training seriously. Or not, there really was no telling with this kid.

At the far end of the room the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi stood surrounded by his body guards. He looked resigned to the situation. "Well at the very least this should be interesting." He said mostly to himself.

"In theory he should destroy the Inuzuka." The scantily clad form of Anko Mitarashi said. "But from everything I've seen he's going to be put down hard." Almost every adult that was in the know agreed with her on this.

"Are both contestants ready?" Hayate Gekko asked. Naruto standing across from Kiba nodded.

Kiba too gave sign of consent as his mind flashed through everything he knew about the orange clad idiot. The fool had to undergo extra years in the academy because he was so bad. After three years he had still been unable to perform a proper henge. No matter how much stronger he had gotten over the years he would still be worthless.

"Then begin." The proctor said before jumping away.

Immediately Kiba dropped to all fours. "Four leg technique." He said as his nails grew longer and dangerously sharp. His canine teeth elongated and his face took on a wild appearance.

Before Naruto had time to understand what he was witnessing Kiba disappeared from where he stood. Only to reappear with both his knee and elbow embedded in Narutos sternum. The force of the blow sent the blonde tumbling away. He did not get up.

Everyone in the room had the same thought on their mind. And it was Kankuro of the Desert that voiced it. "That was really lame."

Shakily the downed boy got to his feet. "Don't underestimate me!" He roared with fire in his eyes.

"Dude you have blood coming out of your mouth stop acting tough." Kiba responded with Akamaru barking in agreement.

"I let you hit me so I could test your strength." He declared a bloody smile on his face. But realistically he had not even seen Kiba move. One second he was on his hands and feet and the next he was delivering pain. "And you should also stop acting tough, use your dog too."

Letting loose a primal growl Kiba lowered his stance again. "Let's go Akamaru." Both he and the dog shot forward. Right before they reached the awaiting Naruto they both disappeared in a cloud of smoke that billowed out completely enveloping Naruto.

"Where are yo-" Naruto started before a multitude of blows started raining upon him. He had to get out of the smoke before they overwhelmed him. As he burst through the cover of the smoke he found the form of Akamaru hurtling through the air at his face. Bringing up his arm to shield himself the force of the dog barreling into him forced them back into the smoke. The sound of growling and the pain filled voice of Naruto filled the arena.

As the smoke cleared the still form of Naruto could be seen lying in the fetal position, Akamaru sat nearby with a smug look on his face. "Good job boy! You did it!" Kiba exclaimed as Akamaru ran over to him. Just before the dog reached him the smell did. And it allowed him to get his arm up in defense before the dogs jaws found him. As the full weight of his attacker hit him the dog burst into smoke. The jaws clamped around his arm were not those of his companion but of Naruto.

Letting out a grunt of pain Kiba figured it out. "You used a Henge when you were in the smoke. What did you do to Akamaru?!"

"Over here!" Said the voice of the once unmoving form of Naruto as he held the dog up by its legs.

"What two of you?!" Kiba said looking between the two of them. "Fine it looks like I actually have to get serious.

Why does a kid know a technique like that? A solid clone? The thoughts of the Jonin in the room coincided. What had Kakashi done?

"Whatever." Kiba said as he discreetly flicked something small and black towards his dog who quickly snapped it up. "Here I come!"

Instantly Akamaru's fur turned a dazzling color of red and he wrenched himself free from the grasp of the clone and scampered up upon Kiba's back. In a burst of smoke another Kiba sat sitting on the firsts back. "Human Beast Clone." Said the one on the bottom.

"He just took something isn't that doping?" Naruto turned and asked the proctor.

"Nope it's a ninja tool, it's allowed." And in a burst of speed the two Kiba's disappeared and then reappeared both full body checking Naruto who went tumbling. He rolled and came back up on his feet running away from his two opponents.

Damn he had to get some distance between them but they were faster than him. Even with him pumping chakra through his legs to augment his speed.

"See how big the difference is between us!" Kiba yelled as both of them shot forward contorting their bodies. Then suddenly they twisted and became two drills that charged forward. "Piercing Fangs!"

They hit him together and their claws tore into his flesh. Elbows and knees repeatedly hit him and then he was blown clean away. He came to a stop in a bloody heap. "Ca-cant gi-give up, I'm th-the next Hokage!" Naruto said rising slowly.

"You become Hokage?! Ha you are too weak to be anything other than dead last."

"Get up Naruto!" Sakura shouted from the balcony.

Shakily he got up and stood ready to meet his foes.

"You don't know when to give up. Piercing Fangs." A Kiba said before both turned into twisters that roared towards Naruto.

"The same trick won't work twice." The blonde exclaimed before jumping straight up and over the two drills. He had to figure a way to stop them to interrupt their teamwork. Just as the two Kiba's came to a stop and changed directions to attack again the idea hit him. Funneling extra chakra for the technique he vanished in a large cloud of smoke.

Right as the smoke dispersed and the two drills impacted they stopped and stared at their foe. A third Kiba was looking back at both of them with a confused look on his face. Evidently Naruto thought he could confuse them into attacking each other. But he was wrong. "You can change your appearance but not your smell!" One yelled as he lashed out and delivered a devastating punch to the origin of the smell. An odor of ramen and sweat.

"You can't fool me twice with the same trick." He said as the laid out Kiba burst into smoke. But the form that was revealed as the smoke dispersed was not Naruto but of an unconscious Akamaru. No that fool must have somehow disguised his sent. Quickly he reeled around and put all his weight into another devastating punch.

And this time when the smoke cleared it was Nar…Akamaru?! But if that was… then turning around he found himself on the receiving end of a full force drop kick the sent him sliding back on all fours.

"Ha, think before using a jutsu or it will get used against you!" Naruto said triumphantly. "And don't fall for such obvious traps."

That freakin Naruto had duped him, he had allowed himself to fall for such a stupid trap. A henge of all things! No he had to calm down he couldn't allow himself to start following his opponents flow. He just had to calm down and think. With his Four Legs technique he was faster than Naruto, much faster. All he had to do was to get behind the idiot and finish him in one hit.

He lowered himself into position. "Alright Naruto I'm ending it here."

"Finally taking me seriously? Fine then I'll show you my new secret Jutsu." Naruto said as he formed a basic hand form.

What he has a trump? Fine then I'll just have to end things quickly thought Kiba. Blitzing forward with everything he had Kiba was going to make sure that Naruto went down. Dipping to the right just before Naruto's reach he circled around to have a clear shot at his back.

"Your mine now!" Kiba yelled as he thrust his sharpened nails at his opponents exposed kidney. Only he didn't hit anything, just thin wisps of smoke. "Wa?" He said as his lunge had overextended him left his balance shaky. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Naruto attached to the nearby wall. Desperately Kiba tried to right himself but it was too late.

"Coming at you!" Naruto yelled as he sprang forward and land a blow to Kibas face that left him seeing stars and reeling. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled as he produced three clones. Two shot forward and dropped under Kiba's line of sight only to rock back and send to mighty kicks up into Kiba's stomach. Collapsing around their feet Kiba was lifted off the ground and into the air. The other clone had been used to cradle the original Naruto's foot and throw him into the air.

Then they came together, Naruto/s falling fist with Kiba's rising head. With a resounding crack they collided and Kiba came hurtling down.

As both the clones dispersed it was clear that there was only one conscious contender. One very tired and beaten up contender but conscious all the same.

Walking over to the downed combatant Hayate checked on Kiba's state. "Winner Naruto Uzumaki." He said between coughs.

"I did it!" Exclaimed as he ran around excitedly.

"Told you it would be interesting." The Hokage whispered to Anko.

"Who knew Kakashi taught him Shunsnin? I didn't see any of the others using it. Glad I didn't bet on this match." She replied.

Naruto had just returned to his team. "Sakura Kakashi Lee aren't I awesome? I beat that mutt good." He exclaimed happily.

"Your match was most exciting my friend." Lee replied.

"Naruto you're barely standing." Kakashi said flatly.

"This, this is nothing." He said as his balance waivered a bit.

"Naruto don't be so dense you barely won!" Sakura corrected him.

"Just curious but where did you learn Shunshin?" Kakashi asked. "Did Iruka teach it to you?"

"Shunshin? What's that?" Naruto asked naively.

"That's the name of the technique you used to dodge Kiba's attack. Its normally only taught to Chunin." Kakashi supplied.

"Never heard of it. I just really wanted to move out of the way and I did. I'm just that awesome, Naruto the next Hokage." He said proudly.

Number one most unexpected ninja of all time. Kakashi thought to himself.

"Um...N-naruto…?"A small voice said from behind him. Turning around he saw the form of Hinata Hyuuga and she had a small ceramic container in hand. "I…uh…want you to have this." She said quietly while presenting him with the container.

Taking hold of it he gave it a once over. "What is it?"

"Medicinal cream, it should help with the smaller cuts." Kurenai Yuuhi supplied looking far too amused for having one of her students lose just minutes earlier.

"Really thank you." Naruto said before opening up the container and applying some to a scratch on his hand. Unknown to most the scratch started to heal instantly.

"We are going to start the eighth match." Hayate said from the contest floor. Everyone turned to the board in anticipation for the next round of fighting. But the results of said board brought a sharp intake of breath from some in the room. "Neji Hyuuga and Hinata Hyuuga please come down."

After those words the rest of the day seemed to go by in an instant for Naruto. Hinata had with a little encouragement managed to stand up to her cousin and meet him in combat. Though the resulting fight left her in critical condition and almost death if not for the interference of four Konoha Jonin. Naruto had swore to avenge her defeat in the next round of the competition.

The next fight was probably the most polarizing and terrifying. From the very get go everyone had known that the short red haired kid was dangerous. What they didn't know was to what extent and now they knew. The speed and power that Lee demonstrated left everyone in stunned silence to everyone but the most experienced of warrior the boy was nothing but a green blur. An unstoppable hurricane of fists and knees. It was clear that he was by far the most powerful Genin from Konoha, disappearing in flashes of speed and breaking through Gaara ultimate shield. But even surpassing the limits of his human body could not bring him victory. His death was all but assured as a wave of sand was sent forth to crush him into a fine paste. It was due to the timely interference of Might Guy that spared his life. He was able to leave the arena with only a crushed arm and leg.

The final match for the day was between the weirdo from sound and Choji Akamichi. It was clearly an uneven match as Dosu quickly took care of the young Konoha nin with hardly any effort.

Afterwards the Hokage had explained the final stage of the Chunin exam. It would end with a tournament in front of many spectators and more than a few prospective employers. The day had concluded with lots being drawn for the final round of matches that were to come after a month's time. Naruto facing Neji in the first match much too both boys eagerness. Sasuke against Gaara which would probably be the highlight of the day. For the third match it was to be Shino Aburame and Kankuro of the desert neither boy gave any indication if they were excited by the prospect. The fourth match would be Dosu versus Shikamaru which would no doubt be a bizarre match. And due to the odd amount of people Temari would be getting a pass for the first round, an outcome that she looked rather displeased with judging by the look in her eyes.

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><p>Naruto was troubled. First off he would be facing that Hyuuga bastard and after he beat him then it was going to be either Sasuke or the sand weirdo. Either of which would be difficult. He couldn't let this month go without training his ass off. He needed someone's help. "Sakura where's Kakashi?" He asked after not seeing the lazy Jonin anywhere.<p>

"He said he had something to do so he's probably with Sasuke." Sakura supplied. With their Sensei just up and leaving it seemed like the logical place for him to be.

"Thanks Sakura Chan. Alright, to the hospital!"

"What do you mean I can't see Sasuke?! I'm his team mate." Naruto yelled to the nurse at the front desk of the hospital. They were refusing him access to Sasuke, for no reason. He had always despised hospitals all those needles and poking and prodding and bad tasting medicine. This was just further proof that they were evil incarnate. "Just tell me where his room is." Naruto yelled in frustration.

"As I said before Sasuke-Sama is not being allowed any visitors right now." The nurse said politely if not a little strained.

"Naruto be quiet in a hospital." The voice of team sevens sensei said before he rounded a corner and came into view.

"Oh Kakashi! I have a favor to ask you."

"No need to tell me I already know what you're going to ask. And as it happens I found someone who will look after your training."

"Whu-wu-why Kakashi I want you!" Naruto demanded. This guy was his damned teacher wasn't it about time he taught actually him something!

"I have some things I need to take care of for most of the month so I don't have time to look after you."

"You're planning to train Sasuke aren't you!?" He accused knowingly. Sas-Uke was always getting special treatment.

"Now don't say that, I found you somebody that specializes in teaching. And he's much more reliable than me." Sasuke did have to fight that monster, it would be morally irresponsible for him to throw the Uchiha to the metaphorical wolves.

"And who is that?!" Naruto shot back.

"It's me." Another hauntingly familiar voice said.

Turning around Naruto was faced with a face he did not want to see again. "It's you the closet pervert!" He shouted pointing excitedly.

Ebisu did not appear to look happy at being called a pervert in public. "Ebisu's is a closet pervert?" Kakashi asked curiously. Just when you thought you knew a guy.

"Why hell did you pick him? He can't teach me anything I'm already stronger than him."Naruto shouted once more at the top of his lungs. "I already beat him with my Harem Jut-"He was quickly silenced as Ebisu clamped a hand over his mouth and put him in a hold.

"I'll treat you to any food later is you just be quiet!" Ebisu whispered in Naruto's ear. The promise of food was enough to shut him up for now.

Kakashi was just looking on in a confused state. Harem Jutsu? What the hell is a Harem Jutsu? "So you know each other?" He said looking between the two excitable people in the hall. That nurse at the front desk was shooting them all some really dirty looks. It was probably time they moved on. "Now Naruto Ebisu here is a tutor that specializes in teaching elites. He's a Special Jonin you know so he's much more qualified to train you. And with you being the one on team seven with the most basic skills I thought having him teach you would be the best thing."

"Ha in what way am I worse than Sasuke and Sakura?" Naruto asked smugly.

"From what Kakashi tells me you have no Taijutsu skills, a limited inventory of Ninjutsu, no Genjutsu to speak of and have serious difficulty controlling your chakra. Now if you take a look these charts." Ebisu said before pulling out a small stack of paper. Each had simple pictures and diagrams. He then began to go into detail about how chakra was made and how Naruto's lack of skill was detrimental. He finished by explaining in detail to Naruto his training regimen for the next month. The end result.

"I don't get it." He said scratching the back of his head.

Letting out a deep sigh Ebisu resigned himself. Damn that Kakashi forcing him to train this idiot and then sneaking off during his carefully prepared presentation. It seemed that only the practical application of his training would have any impact. "It will be dark in a few hours, so go home do whatever you would normally do and then tomorrow meet me in front of the Hokage tower at eight."

"Okay. So what are we going to do?" Naruto asked innocently.

"Just meet me tomorrow." Ebisu said before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"I wonder if he is going to teach me that?"

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><p>Blood. So much blood. A battlefield? Desperation hung in the air. Then it changed. Graduation from the ninja academy, he was being hailed as a prodigy. It changed again. A woman with red hair and a fiery temper. It all dissolved into to red eyes. Two blood red eyes the size of small houses and a feeling of utter dread seeped into every bone in his body.<p>

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><p><strong>30 Days to the Chunin exam<strong>

He woke up with a start. He was in his apartment, he could see the faded wallpaper even in the not quite light of the early morning. He was covered from head to toe in a cold sweat. What was with those dreams?... That was the last time he was ever eat expired ramen before bed. Looking over he saw it was just past five in the morning. Well he wouldn't be getting to sleep anytime soon. So he got up and went to take a shower and wash off the sweat.

It took five minutes before the water started to come out as anything warmer than freezing. His entire apartment complex was falling apart, if it wasn't broke it would be within the next month or so. Faulty wiring, old water heater, leaky pipes, broken locks. But he had become accustomed to fixing things no one was going to help him so he had from a young age learned to do things for himself. It was probably better that he could do basic maintenance you never know when you're going to need it.

He got out of the shower and dried himself off. It took him a couple minutes to locate clean clothes in the warzone of his bedroom but once he did he was dressed in his trademark orange ensemble. If he was going to start training today then he might as well get started.

His thoughts were interrupted as a low rumbling made itself known. He was hungry, he was always hungry. He could eat and eat and he would never seem to get full, much to the chagrin of Choji whenever there was a food eating contest.

Looking in his dingy little kitchen he found ramen, ramen and surprise surprise ramen. Well there was some expired milk but it was closer on its way to becoming cheese than it was to being actual milk. While ramen was awesome and everything he just wasn't feeling it this morning. Maybe he could go to that small bakery that wouldn't throw him out on premise.

Deciding on his course of action he grabbed his wallet a bandolier of kunai a handful of shuriken and set out for the day. Before leaving he took note of the old clock he had scrounged from the garbage. It read six o seven.

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><p>He let out a tremendous yawn, it was too damn early for training. He should have tried to go back to sleep. Ten o-clock sounds much better. After grabbing breakfast he decided to start training he had to beet that arrogant bastard into the ground for Hinata. He found a deserted little back alley not too far from the Hokage tower. He started with some basic stretches till he was limbered up.<p>

Forming his favorite cross shaped hand seal he focused his chakra and his mind. Eight clones. "Shadow clone jutsu." He said and in a cloud of smoke eight clones appeared. For the next hour he trained the only way he knew how he brawled. The Shadow clones were probably not the best type of clones to train with seeing as how when they received any hit they would immediately dispel. But it gave him one heck of a work out. All the dodging and jumping the blocking the retreating the advancing. It all got his blood pumping and his muscles screaming. The other upside of this type of training was he found that he was always a lot more aware of his immediate surroundings. He had to be otherwise one of his clones would come out of nowhere and ring his dome.

As the last of his clones dispelled he flopped on the ground gasping for breath. Looking around he saw that the sky had lightened drastically it was probably about time to meet his private trainer. It felt good to have something wholly to himself. Even though that bastard Kakashi had pushed him off on Ebisu so he could train Sasuke it felt nice knowing that someone was doing something just for you.

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><p>"What have you been doing?" Ebisu said taking in the blonde's disheveled appearance.<p>

"Training."

"Fine just follow me."

"So why did you drag me to the hot springs?" Naruto asked while looking around. His eyes lingered a little too long at a small gap in the wall separating the men's bath from the women's.

"We are here to train." Said Ebisu while pushing up his glasses, probably trying to look cool.

"Okay…how?"

"We are going to walk."

"…Walk?" Clearly this nut job was crazy. How would walking make him stronger?

"On top of the water." He said gesturing to the natural hot spring of scalding hot water which fed the local businesses. The water was heated somewhere underground and came bubbling up to the surface where some people had built hotels and baths around.

Yep this guy was certifiably insane. Walk on water that's just craz…

Ebisu preceded to step out over the steaming pool and stood perfectly still on the surface of the water.

"Huh? How are you doing that? There has to be a trick. Am I being punked?" Naruto said as he examined the area for anything suspicious.

"I've heard from Kakashi that you already know how to climb trees with chakra. Well this is the next step to controlling your chakra. In tree climbing you gather the necessary amount of chakra to the bottom of your feet and use it to adhere to the surface. That exercise is about finding the necessary balance of chakra and maintaining it." Ebisu said as he walked back onto solid ground.

"That sounds kind of familiar." Naruto mused as he tried to recall his trip to wave.

"Since water is not solid and prone to changing you need to constantly adjust the amount of chakra you produce. You must only use the right amount, too much and it will disrupt your balance, too little and you will sink. This technique is used to train your control of expelling chakra to use in jutsu."

"I still don't get it." Naruto said while scratching his head.

This was going to be a very long thirty days. Kakashi was going to have to owe him for this. "Then I'll walk you through it. First you gather chakra to your feet." He assumed the most basic chakra gathering hand form. "Then you continually expel a set amount as your foot hits the water you match your output to your body wei… use enough so that the water feels solid." He said as he slowly set one foot on the surface then shifted his weight till he was completely standing over the water.

"Wow let me try!" Quickly putting his hands into the chakra focusing sign he gathered chakra to his feet. Lightly he put one foot out onto the surface of the water, as it touched he could feel resistance from the water. It was almost as if it was solid ground.

"IT'S HOOOOOTTTT!" Naruto yelled as he sank as far as his knee and then bolted back to land.

"It is a hot spring after all. We are using the hot water as an extra incentive for you to stay on the surface." It was almost impressive that his new student hadn't fallen in straight away. Usually when trying a new training method like this the person outright fails the first time. "Now try again."

"Alright just hold on a sec…. What the?!"Naruto said as something caught his eye.

Ebisu turning to see what caught his newest students attention saw a man staring intently at the woman's side wall of a nearby hot spring. He recognized the man instantly, any ninja worth his salt knew him. Jiraya of the Sanin, the Toad Hermit, the Third Hokage's student, Konoha's strongest military and Intelligence asset. Unfortunately he was also a self-proclaimed super pervert. It was said that the stronger you were as a ninja the weirder you were.

"I cannot let this stand!" Ebisu said as he charged forth to confront the peeping tom.

Sensing someone trying to ruin his attempt at research the man the man resolved to stop them using the least amount of effort as possible. Swiping his thumb across his teeth he drew blood and quickly focused chakra into that hand. Then he was instantly shrouded in a cloud of smoke.

It was to Ebisu's surprise that a pink and spongy rope shot out and quickly wrapped securely around him? Not a rope as he discovered as the smoke cleared. A tongue of a giant toad. Jiraya sat atop his summoned companion with an annoyed look on his face. And then the familiar promptly smashed him into the ground rendering him unconscious. "Whatcha gonna do if I get caught?" He said from his toad.

The closet pervert lost? Well that's not really surprising, he already lost to the Harem Jutsu. "You better not have knocked him out you pervert!" Naruto Yelled as he ran over to his tutor. Only to find him completely unresponsive, even after a strong slap to the face and a foot to the ribs. "Who the hell are you?! And what the hell is that frog?!" Naruto yelled accusingly.

"Thanks for asking. Mt. Myobokugama's holy Master Sennin, Also known as the Toad Sennin! Remember it!" Jiraya said accompanied by an awkward little dance finishing in a pose.

"Sennin?" What da fuck?

The man jumped from his amphibian friend before it dispersed into smoke. "Hey you pervert, what did you do to him?! He was supposed to train me, now look at him!" Naruto yelled at the offending man.

"He got in the way of my noble work!" The older man said.

"Work?" What kind of work could peeping on women possibly be?

"I am a writer of a popular series, you may know it as." Digging into his robes for something. Quickly he thrust his prize out triumphantly. A small orange book titled 'Come Come Paradise'.

That book looked familiar, really familiar. Like it was something you would see every day but had grown numb to it almost like an annoying… "That perverted book that Kakashi's always reading!" Naruto bellowed in fear disgust and deep down inside envy? "That's a nasty book!" The Toad Sennin almost looked offended by that.

"And what do you mean by work? All you were doing is peeping into the woman's bath you pervert! If you were my age it would be a prank, but an old dirty man doing it is totally a crime!"

Now the Sennin did look insulted. "You little fool! IAM NOT JUST A PERVERT! Peeping gives me inspiration to write a better nov-"

"You LIAR! What a lame excuse! Now what am I going to do about my training!?" Naruto yelled back.

"Training? You mean water walking? That's kids stuff." He said dismissively.

Under normal circumstances Naruto would then force the man to make up for what he had done and teach him. But…the man just rubbed him the wrong way.

Reaching into his tool belt he withdrew a small pencil and scroll. Part of the supplies Kakashi said was needed on his person at all time. Taking the scroll and pencil he wrote a short sentence and rolled the scroll up. "You have forced me to do this."

"Ha what can a stupid little kid like you possibly do?!"

"Just this." Bringing his hands together he focused his chakra in just the right way. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke. And when it dissipated a small unremarkable boy stood there. "Henge." Naruto said as he lobbed the scroll over the closest fence.

"Huh?" the man said. How was that going to- oh that's the women's baths. Damn.

Suddenly the wall separating the baths and the street fell down. Behind it was a wall of pissed off looking women each wrapped in towels and bearing blunt objects.

Putting on his most innocent child face Naruto approached the nearest woman. It was the tears that sold it. "Miss this m-man was looking through a h-hole in the wall and t-touching himself in bad places. He's really scary." He got out in between sobs. The woman instantly pulled Naruto into a hug.

As he watched the kid get pulled into the comforting bosom of the toweled woman he caught sight of a malicious grin just peaking out of the boys face. "Son of a bitch." He said quietly to himself as he slowly started to back away.

"Kill him!" One of the women yelled, and judging by the evidence of muscle one of the shinobi in the group.

"I shall remember this you brat." Jiraya said as he starting sprinting away from the decidedly angry women. Said women started to chase him with thoughts ranging from torture to castration.

All that was left was Naruto standing with a satisfied grin and Ebisu buried under the collapsed fence. "Don't mess with the master." He said before grabbing his tutor's one protruding limb and dragging him away.

* * *

><p>"Oy Teuchi, pork Ramen and keep them comin." Naruto yelled as he came into view of his favorite food stand.<p>

"Oh Naruto good to see you, it will be right out." He didn't both to comment on how his best customer was dragging what appeared to be a shinobi behind him. The kid was weird, you either accepted it or not.

"It's all on this guy today, so make everything extra-large." Ebisu awoke to find himself sprawled on the ground staring at the sky. Within his immediate vicinity was a small ramen stand. Upon the counter stood a stack of twelve empty bowls of ramen towering over him. He found his wallet discarded and empty on the ground next to him. An animated Naruto was eagerly chatting away with the young waitress behind the counter while an older man looked on with a smile. "Kakashi is going to owe me his first born after this." He said aloud startling Naruto from his conversation.

"Oh that's right closet pervert here was going to train me but that stupid frog guy knocked him out."

"You get into the strangest situations Naruto." The brown haired waitress said her voice laced with mirth.

"When I said I'd treat you to lunch I didn't mean you could clean me out." Letting out a sigh he just resigned himself to his fate. "Let's just get this over with so I can get on with my life. There's a pond in the park in the western side of the city do you know it?"

Naruto had to think for a moment but he did remember a park that he used to play at when he was younger. "Yeah I know it."

"Meet me there in ten minutes." Quickly he took off and ran straight up a nearby wall then took to the roofs where he quickly disappeared from view.

"That was kind of cool. Well thanks for the food I'll see you later." Naruto said before taking off down a nearby alley.

"Hes always so energetic." The girl wondered aloud as she watched him take off.

* * *

><p>"Arg! Why is this so hard?!" Naruto screamed while standing waist deep in the pond. All of the park goers had long since disappeared once the blonde had started to make a racket. It was a small place maybe an acre or two of grass with a moderately sized sandbox and a small jungle gym. The small pond was tucked away in the corner. At its deepest it barely hit four feet deep.<p>

"If it was easy it would be taught to academy students." Ebisu said from dry ground. He stood there arms crossed and a small smile on his face. "Try again."

"Uhg."Naruto grunted before wading to shore. "I'm completely drenched." From the multiple attempts at walking across the pond had got him no less that wet from head to toe. "This is just in the way." He said as he unzipped his trademark orange jacket and threw it on dry ground. His white shirt soon followed.

Hes lean. Ebisu observed. No fat to speak of despite his eating habits. He had power behind those muscles but hardly any speed. That's something that will need to change. He was on the small side, his poor diet thus far probably had something to do with it. Or it could be genetics, but seeing as he was an orphan there would be no way to know.

Naruto stepped up to the water's edge and started focusing hos chakra. Almost immediately a mark started to appear on his stomach. A spiral with two sets of four spikes of indistinguishable writing. That was how the seal was supposed to look but as Naruto kept focusing more of the seal was revealed. Five flame like marks surrounded the whole seal. "That's not good." Each shinobi to make the rank of Jonin was given a briefing about the biju located inside Naruto Uzumaki. If anything were to happen to it they were to immediately locate the highest ranking officer possible.

"Huh?" Naruto stopped focusing on his chakra and turned to see what his tutor had to say. "What?"

"Put your clothes back on we need to see the Hokage."

"What? Why do we nee"

"Now!" He interrupted. His tone left no room for compromise.

* * *

><p>"We need to see the Hokage, its an emergency." Ebisu said tersely to the secretary outside the Hokage's office.<p>

"I'm sorry Jonin Ebisu but he's in a meeting with the head of T and I." T and I, Konoha's Torture and Interrogation unit. Led by Ibiki Morino one of the most frightening men working in the Land of Fire. He was renowned and feared for the ability to get information from anyone without having to break a single bone.

"I was told he was not to be disturbed even by him." She said nodding at Naruto who was known to have a habit of barging in to the Hokage's office wherever he wanted to.

"Just tell him the seal is compromised."

Her eyes gave a nervous flicker over to Naruto who was busy staring out a nearby window. Quickly she turned to a machine sitting on the corner of her desk. She depressed a button on it. "Hokage-sama Jonin Ebisu says the seal is compromised."

As quick as lightning the door to the Hokages office burst open and the old man came marching out. The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was one of the longest reigning Kages in the whole of the Elemental Nations. He was a warrior that was so feared on the battlefield that he was given the moniker 'The God of Shinobi'. And he looked every in that name as he swept out of his office. Followed close behind him was Ibiki Morino, a man of large stature and frightening appearance.

"What's the situation?" The old man commanded. The volume and tone shook Naruto from his view of the window.

"While training I observed the seal was altered. I came to you as soon as possible. Sir." Ebisu said while standing straight as a rail.

"Naruto Ebisu, my office now." Ordered the old man. They quickly walked in and shut the door leaving Ibiki and a nervous secretary alone.

"Send a general alert to all shinobi. 'Situation BADLAND authorization 39B743T6." Said the head of T and I before marching out of the room.

* * *

><p>"Naruto shirt off." Sarutobi ordered.<p>

"What's going on?" He was so confused, just as he was starting to get that stupid exercise his tutor had all but dragged him here. And now the old man looked like he was on the war path something Naruto had never seen.

"Naruto this is a direct order. Shirt off." There was a dangerous look in his eyes as he said that. The will of an old warrior was still with him.

Quickly Naruto took his damp jacket and shirt off. "Focus your chakra."

Still confused out of his mind Naruto shut his eyes and started to focus his chakra. Like earlier today it felt sluggish and it moved in jumps and starts.

The Hokage released a deep breath. "Kuma signal 'Situation All Clear, Authorization 9HJ92537." From within the shadows of the Hokages office a man dressed in all black emerged. His only distinguishing feature was a white mask with a likeness of a bear painted on it. As soon as he appeared he vanished, no smoke no leaves just gone. Looking down at the focus of everyone's interest Naruto saw the strange marks on his stomach.

"That wasn't there this morning. Where the heck did these come from?" He had never seen these things before and he had no clue who could have put them there without his knowing. Though for some reason he felt a wave of déjà vu, it was almost like he remembered them from a forgotten dream. But as his concentration on his chakra slipped so did the appearance of the symbols. "Wait is that the thing that keeps the fox inside?"

"Yes Naruto. Ebisu good work would you please wait outside?"

"Yes sir." He said before he turned on the spot and left the room.

"Put your shirt back on and please sit down we need to talk." The Hokage said before he too sat down at his desk and took up his unlit pipe. With a snap of his fingers his thumb was alight, he used it to light his pipe and began puffing away.

"Every Jonin ranked Shinobi is briefed on your condition." He watched Naruto's face morph as a slew of emotions flew across it. "They are informed of what your seal is supposed to look like at all times and ordered to report to me should they see anything wrong with it. Ebisu did just that. It appears that someone has added another layer to the original seal. Do you understand?"

"Um yeah." Not really but it sounded important.

"Naruto we can't have anyone altering or tampering with the seal that holds the Kyuubi. If it were to be released it would be catastrophic. We barely survived the last encounter." Images of burning buildings and desperate cries for help flashed through his mind. "This new layer is called the Five Elements Seal. It is a very powerful technique, and fairly rare. There are probably only a handful of people in the world that even heard of it, let alone have the knowledge and ability to use it. For someone to apply it they would have to be very close to you and the application would be very painful." Seeing the blank look on his young friends face he simplified. "So what I'm asking is, who did this to you?"

Naruto tried to think of who could have done it. Someone had to have gotten close to him to use it and it was supposed to hurt when used? The last time someone had done anything like that to him had been back during the second round of the exams. "It might have been that snake guy?"

Sarutobi looked startled for a second before his calm returned. "Snake guy?"

"Yeah there was this snake guy who attacked us in the forest." Naruto told him the whole story from the time when team seven entered the forest to when they arrived at the tower. "He was really interested in Sasuke."

Pulling a long drag from his pipe Sarutobi slowly let the smoke out. "That would be Orochimaru, my former apprentice."

"You're what?"

"Many years ago I had a Genin team. Orochimaru was a prodigy at a young age far more so than Sasuke. As the years passed he turned cruel and hateful until one day he left Konoha to pursue his own goals and in the process became a missing nin." The Hokage had a faraway look on his face as he remembered his student who had become lost along the way to greatness.

"Why did he come after Sasuke?" Naruto looked sad and confused.

"My former student wishes to master every Ninjutsu in the world. And if he were to possess Sasuke's Sharingan it would be a significantly easier goal to accomplish. But the real question is why didn't he kill you and Sakura?"

"Kill us?" Naruto looked scared now.

"There are very few in this world who could face Orochimaru in a fight and come out alive. That he merely neutralized you leaves many questions." And none of them can have a good answer.

"But isn't it a good thing that he put another seal on the fox?" Naruto was back to confused, it was surprising that this boy didn't get whiplash from how fast he changed emotions.

"Yes and no, with the seal in place it makes it even less likely that the fox will break out. But then again this new seal is interfering with the old. It has in effect destabilized your chakra. Your control must be even worse than when you were in the academy the only reason you can now do any Jutsu is because of the sheer amount of Chakra you possess."

"So I wasn't just imagining it." Naruto said absently while rubbing the back of his head.

The Hokage just let out a sigh, definitely not the sharpest kunai in the pouch. "Naruto from now on if there is anything wrong at all with the seal, if you feel there is anything wrong with your chakra if you have even the slightest doubt about something you need to come find me."

"Okay." He replied a sounding a little down.

"Now I can keep the new seal on but it most will most likely keep you from ever progressing past the rank of Genin."

"What! But old man I'm going to be the next Hokage!" Naruto all but screamed from the top of his lungs.

Holding up his hands in a placating gesture the Hokage continued. "Or I can remove it and you can continue to train with Ebisu for the exams."

"Getitoffgetitoffgetitoffgetitoff!"He yelled pulling up his shirt.

"Alright focus your chakra and keep it at a steady flow." As soon as Naruto closed his eyes to concentrate on his chakra a pressure started to build in the room. The amount that he had at his disposal was staggering.

Holding his hand outstretched with his fingers splayed Sarutobi too started to focus. As he did so with unerring skill and control at the end of each finger a small purple flame came to life. He set his glowing fingers upon each mark of the five elements seal branded onto Naruto and focused. "Release."

Like he had been in the stomach he had he exhaled loudly and doubled over. "Oooooow. That hurt old man."

"What's the saying 'No pain no gain'." A laugh almost on his lips.

Checking himself out to make sure the old man's super touch of pain had made no permanent marks he found himself even when controlling chakra to be free of the new seal. "Yeah yeah. So I'm good to go?"

"Yes, you may resume training with Ebisu." Said the Hokage as he was briefly looking through some files on his desk.

"See ya later. I'll treat you to some ramen." The blonde said as he ran through the door and started dragging his tutor off.

"My foolish student, what are you scheming?" Sarutobi's words went unnoticed by all as he stared out his window.

* * *

><p>"Alright so let's pick up where we left off." Ebisu said standing at the bank of the little pond they had commandeered.<p>

"Okay here we go." The young genin said as he prepared himself for the trial ahead, and the possibility of getting wet again. He already has his chakra focused and took his first exploratory step onto the water. His foot met water but as he applied more of his weight it stayed on the surface. With all his weight resting on the top of the water he took a step then another and another till he was standing on top of knee deep water. "Yes fear my awesome power!" He yelled as he threw his hands up in victory.

Quite extraordinary, it took most people a day or so to get that far. With only an hour of practice he had picked it up and for most of that hour he had the control of a six year old. It appeared that he excelled when doing practical training. But enough of that it was time to bring him down. "Tree walking is an introductory level chakra exercise easy enough so genin straight out of the academy can pick it up without too much difficulty. Water walking is a basic level skill. Now that you can do both you may now be considered a real Genin."

"What?!" Tree walking was a pain in the ass, falling hurt. And walking on water was more difficult.

"Quite frankly I'm surprised Kakashi hasn't shown you this already. Maybe it's so basic he thought you already knew it? I had planned to show Konohamaru tree walking in a few weeks, and then this. But never mind, now to the next part of the exercise, jump."

Here he was standing on freekin water and this guy was saying it was no big deal?! And now he wanted him to jump. This was going to be a very long month. "Jump?"

"Yes, during a mission you may need to walk or run on water. You may need to jump onto or from water. You must be able to do everything you can do on dry land on water. Understanding how your balance and weight distribution changes from land to water is very important."

"But why? I can walk and stand, can't we move on to some cool Jutsu?"

"Doing something and doing something efficiently are completely different. Look at your feet. Do you see those big ripples your making?" Naruto looked down at his feet. There were small waves being pushed out from under him as he bobbed ever so slightly on the surface of the pond. "That means you are using too much. Jumping up and down will get you used to finding the balance. Now jump."

* * *

><p><strong>Hours later.<strong>

"Good I feel that made some progress. We have a long way to go before you can be considered even a halfway decent Genin, but I'm sure by a months' time we shall be there." Ebisu said offhandedly while looking at the form of Naruto sprawled out on the ground panting. Jumping around for hours on end can be a bit demanding.

His legs were on fire, his lungs were on fire, his throat was on fire. Ebisu would too be on fire if Naruto knew any fire Jutsu. "Slave driver." He got out between breaths.

"Meet me here tomorrow at eight, we will continue this for a few hours then work on physical conditioning." He said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"I'm too tired to even care anymore."

* * *

><p>The door slowly swung open letting out a high pitched squeak all the while. "Ugh, what did I get myself into?" He said as he shuffled into his ratty apartment. Stopping to look at the dirty kitchenette he was forced to come to a decision. "Food? No too tired, just sleep." He mumbled to himself.<p>

Forcing his legs to keep moving he labored into his bedroom. Clothes everywhere, bed unmade, some sort of mold growing in one corner of the ceiling. It was a shit hole. It was paradise. He flopped onto the unkempt bed and his eyelids closed sluggishly. Damn it, he had to set his alarm to get up for tomorrow. Begrudgingly he used the last of his energy to open his eyes.

What he saw was not the inside of his bedroom. "So we meet again little flesh bag." An overpowering voice said its echo ringing off into the distance.

* * *

><p>AN

Well here's another story. Writing is hard.


	2. Chapter 2

Second installment of The Lie I Live

Chapter 2

* * *

><p>"So we meet again little flesh bag." An overpowering voice said its echo ringing off into the dark hallways.<p>

Naruto span where he stood trying to find the origins of the voice. All he found was the dark stone of the cracked walls, pipes threaded through them at seemingly random intervals. There was no one within sight.

"Where are you?!" Naruto shouted into the darkness.

"Behind you." The voice boomed from over his shoulder. Naruto jumped away from the voice. Where he was just standing, and open hallway, was now a series wooden bars. Each one was a thick as a hundred year oak. Behind them was an all-consuming darkness.

"Come out!" He shouted.

"If only I could." The voice said again this time the voice sounded as if it came from twenty feet in the air. A pair of gargantuan eyes opened, revealing crimson pupils. A malevolent intelligence rested behind those slit carmine eyes. The light shifted. No, the light didn't move but the form trapped behind the bars became visible. A monster out of children's stories, out of legends. Laying prone was the massive form of a fox twisted and vastly different from anything natural. The size of a large building the monster towered over the wayward ninja. Its elongated front legs ending in a pair of claw like hands, each were flexing looking for something to shred. The Kyuubi sat in all its terrible glory.

"You could always let me out." One of its claws snaked out and wrapped its finger around one bars of its cage.

"You stupid fox, why am I here?!"

The fox grinned showing a row of teeth larger than a man. "When the one who smelled of snakes put that seal on you it gave me a little leeway. I then acted upon this once in a lifetime chance and oh how did it pay out."

Naruto stood there with his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face. "What the hell are you talking about? How do I get out of here?" This was just great not only did he get ditched by Kakashi and get stuck with some clown he was already stronger than, but now this stupid freaking fox had to make an appearance.

"Why my revenge of course. Well technically I'm just exploiting your mistake. You were so rushed for time, poor little Kushina's chakra system was starting to implode due to my release, that Uchiha tried to kill your son, then I tried to kill your son. I love reliving that moment when both of you jumped in the way, ha ha the look on your faces was priceless." The fox said rambling off into reminiscence.

"What _are_ you talking about?!" Freaking fox was crazy, hopefully it wasn't contagious.

If it was possible his already massive grin grew even wider. "HAHA, I'm talking about none other than you of course Minato Namikaze."

"Okay you are crazy. I'm leaving." Naruto turned around and walked away. Stupid fox ruined his life and now he finds out it is crazy. Nothing was ever simple with his life.

"Every night I shall release more memories and once you consume Naruto we will talk again. I will have struck the final blow. For the rest of your days you will _know_ your mistake, that you are the one who killed your son." Was the last thing Naruto heard before he was consumed by darkness.

* * *

><p>He woke with a start nearly jumping out of his bed. He was covered in sweat the sheets from his bed were in a pile on the floor. From the window in his room he could still see that it was dark out, checking the crummy clock on his night stand he saw it was only a little past one in the morning.<p>

What a weird dream. Whatever it didn't matter he was still exhausted from yesterday's training, he needed sleep so he could train all day tomorrow so he could wipe that smirk off Neji's face.

Pulling off his sweat soaked shirt and jacket he unceremoniously threw them into the dark of his room and turned over to sleep.

* * *

><p>That night he dreamed of his birthday of October tenth; of the night the Kyuubi attacked.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>29 Days until the Chunin exam<strong>

"You look terrible." Ebisu said while looking over his newest student.

Naruto looked like death warmed over. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy while at the same time sunken in with dark rings. His normal tan skin was pale and his shoulders hung low as if the weight of the world were on them.

"I didn't sleep well." He mumbled.

"While on a mission shinobi may be required to go for days without food or sleep. I had planned for you to run atop a river for today to complete your water walking training but I think we need to see how far you can push yourself physically." His new teacher was looking him over as if he was some sort of livestock for sale. "It is preferable to hit your wall in a controlled environment than to be out in the field and do so. Follow me." Ebisu took off and quickly ran up a wall of a nearby building reaching the roof in a matter of seconds. He then tuned towards the Hokage Mountain and jumped away.

"Show off." Naruto said before he too ran up a wall and reached a roof, albeit at a much slower pace. Once on top of the building he saw that Ebisu was already a half block away. So he took off leaping from one building to the next.

As he was moving along the roofs he noticed how much easier it was to gather his chakra and use it to scale the walls and jump gaps. Maybe this chakra training stuff had some merit.

By the time he caught up to his teacher the man was waiting under the shadow of mountain. Naruto was breathing with some exertion but the closet pervert didn't look stressed at all.

"I wasn't even going at a quarter of my full speed, you are very slow. When you use chakra to increase your performance do you thread it or simply flood your system with it?"

Naruto just scratched the back of his head in confusion. "What does that mean?"

Ebisu just let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding. "Damn you Kakashi, I will get even for this." He mumbled to himself. "When you jump long distances do you use chakra?"

Naruto had to think about it for a minute but he guessed he had to in order to jump some of those distances. He probably even did it when he was running? "I guess."

"Well there is the proper more efficient way of doing it and then there is what you're most likely doing. We'll deal with that after we finish your water walking techniques. But for now run up and down the monument." He ordered.

Naruto just looked up. It was a long way up, usually when he wanted to get to the top he would go the long way. There were a series of trails switch backing the mountain on the other side. And even taking those was fairly tiring. Well best get to work.

It was a few minutes later that he reached ground again. He stood there bent over huffing and puffing sweat beading his brow. His jacket was stifling so het ripped it off leaving him in his black shirt.

"I didn't tell you to stop." His tutor said looking less than amused. "I told you we're going to discover how far you can push yourself. Now again."

"Ugh." Naruto said before going up the mountain again this time much slower than the first.

In total he made it up and down six times before on his seventh ascent his concentration slipped and his feet lost hold of the rock face. He was able to save himself by adhering to the rock face with his hands. Climbing down while exhausted was a tricky business and nearly lost hold countless times.

"That's an acceptable first attempt. Now that you're physically exhausted we can push until your body gives out." Ebisu said once Naruto reached the solid non-vertical surface. "Follow me." And he took off.

"Fuck." Naruto grunted out. He had never before in his life been this tired, not the fight with Mizuki, not the battle with Haku, and not the forest of Death. Running on a vertical surface was absolutely brutal. His legs were on fire, his throat was raw, his lower back felt like it going to give out and he was sooooo thirsty.

With a whimper he took off after Ebisu.

* * *

><p>"You have done alright for your apparent lack of overall physical fitness, and you still have quite a bit of chakra left."<p>

"Fuck you." Naruto grumbled from his position face down on the ground. He couldn't even gather the energy to turn over. It had been brutal.

After running up and down the mountain they relocated quickly, as in full speed running. His already tired legs were turned to jello, the only way he could continue to move was by flooding his legs with chakra a process that required more and more as time went on. After relocating to a large grove of trees he had been ordered to climb them and make his way through them until he either fell or Ebisu decided it was enough. As this was the Village Hidden in the Leaves all the trees were freaking huge with very wide gaps between some of the trees. Only after ten minutes of traversing the tangle of the branches did he finally fall.

There would have been a Naruto shaped stain on the ground if not for the intervention of his Tutor, who caught him in the air. "Physical exhaustion is only half of the equation time to push your mind." He had said before dumping him in a pile of leaves. "Use chakra to attach as many leaves as you can to yourself, for every one that falls off you will do twenty pushups. Begin."

That had been absolute torture, he had managed four leaves before his concentration had slipped and gravity had won out. Then while doing the pushups the rest of the leaves had fallen off. And repeat. His arms had given out at some point and Ebisu had been forced to change exercises.

"I don't know why I didn't think of this first. You are going to flare as much chakra as you can for as long as you can."

Naruto' head rolled back and he groaned. "Why?"

"This exercise will effectively dump all your remaining chakra. Now do it."

Settling down into the lotus position he brought his hands together into the Ram hand sign the one most used for focusing. Complying albeit slowly the boy found that spot in his body from which all his chakra flowed and he willed it into motion. It was difficult at first for him to move it within his coils as he was physically and mentally drained. But that endless well of chakra he had his entire life was still there still full of Chakra. As he pulled it from his body and made it real the very air around the two of them started to hum with energy. He pushed and pushed until it started to trickle out from his Tenketsu. As he continued to force his chakra out the air started to vibrate. He kept pouring it out in such massive quantities that it became visible as translucent waves of blue fire. It consumed him in a heatless inferno.

A ring of dirt and small nearby rocks began to be pulled in to him. Once close enough they got swept up in his orbit.

"Holy shit." Ebisu said to himself as he watched mesmerized as Naruto continued to pour out amounts of Chakra that would kill anyone else. It was a known fact that the boy had large reserves as he had been seen using the Shadow Clone Jutsu as a play thing but this was another matter entirely. This the true depths of his reserves was so far beyond frightening. Though the heavy haze of Naruto's chakra that was blanketing the area he could feel the presence of more Shinobi arriving. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of a white porcelain mask, ANBU was out inspecting the disturbance. He had no doubt that every sensor in Konoha was aware of just what was going on. The Hokage was probably even watching through his crystal ball.

After what seemed like an eternity the flood of chakra began to wane. The already labored breathing of Naruto was now coming in deep drags of air. And with one last burst of chakra he flopped boneless onto his back.

It was a few minutes later that he came around. "That was very impressive. Now how do you feel?" His temporary teacher asked.

"Kill me now." He said with no inflection in his voice. He was beyond exhausted.

"We will continue with some mental exercises for a bit longer and then you're free to go."

For next hour he was forced to recall stuff from the academy. What country was where, who was allied with who, and a long series of trivial things that he barely even half remembered being mentioned in class.

"You're going to be useless for the rest of the day so I suggest you get something to eat then go to bed early. I'll be by tomorrow morning to finish your water walking training, then we'll move on to fixing your basic Ninjutsu."

A groan was his reply.

* * *

><p>He had managed to drag himself back through town and to the lower class residential district where he lived just as the sun passed its zenith and had started to move towards the distant hills. The walk up the stairs to the second floor of his building had been particularly brutal. He had barely managed to drag his throbbing feet over the threshold of his apartment before gravity took over and he collapsed. Darkness took him soon afterwards.<p>

Cast adrift in a sea of memories he dreamed of a lecture in the Shinobi academy. But it wasn't Iruka talking and he recognized none of the other students. The subject of the lecture was about chakra manipulation, but he didn't really focus on it there was really no need to as he already understood everything that was being discussed. It was all in the scrolls that had been passed out the previous day. So with lack of new input his attention kept wandering to a red haired girl who was sitting a few seats to his left. She was twirling her long hair around her finger like she did whenever she was distracted.

The dream changed he was with his teammates out on a mission. They were patrolling along the border of the Land of Fire, and had stumbled across a group of bandits sneaking over from The Land of Rice. Their Jonin Sensei had ordered them to engage while he held back. It was looking to be an easy fight, the group of highwaymen were clearly untrained in the art of war. They were making good progress through the criminals a kick here a kunai there it wouldn't be long before they were wiped out. Until the bandits' leader showed up, and from the slashed forehead protector it looked like he was a missing nin from The Land of Rain. It was immediately apparent that he outclassed them in every way, that was until their Sensei was forced to intercede. The battle ended very shortly after that, the tall form of Jariaya standing triumphant turned to his apprentices. "You guys got a way to go still."

With a jolt he awoke. He was lying on the floor of his apartment the door wide open a cool breeze wafting in. He struggled to his feet and had to use the wall for support. Every fiber of his being was on fire. Every muscle was tight every bone felt like it was ready to snap and every step sent a bolt of pain shooting through his body. And then there had been those strange dreams again. Since that conversation with the Nine Tailed Ass he had been having weird dreams.

"What woke me up?" He grumbled. And was immediately answered by a large growl coming from his stomach. Now that he thought about it he was really hungry. He looked at the cheap clock on the wall. "Ichiraku's isn't that far." He said to himself before stumbling out the door and towards food.

It was a few minutes of awkward painful stumbling that he found himself in front of a flower shop. Normally he would have just kept walking by without a second thought but out in front of it was Sakura and Ino. Talking laughing and in general not yelling at each other. Clearly while he had been asleep the end of days had come and gone. For as long as he had known them they've always been at each other's throats. It was impossible for them to be in a room together without some sort of fight breaking out.

Sakura noticed him string at them. "Naruto what happened, you look like you've been run over?"

He did in deed look like something the cat had dragged in. His cloths were torn in several places from being snagged on branches as he was jumping through the trees. His face was caked with a combination of dried sweat and mud. And under his eyes were dark rings.

"New trainer is a slave driver." He got out. God even talking hurt. "Why are you together and not fighting?" His curiosity was peeked.

"We decided after the second round of the exams that we should be friends again." Ino said speaking up for the first time.

"Okay cool." Naruto said before turning and continuing his forced march towards sweat Ramen heaven.

As he walked away he heard them talking again. "Never seen him so mellow." "Yeah he's really worn down. Wonder what his trainer made him do?"

* * *

><p>After a very satisfying dinner at in the presence of the Ichiraku's Naruto found himself once again in his apartment. And then on his bed with the black embrace of sleep closing in upon him. As before he dreamed of someone else.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>28 Days until the exam<strong>

"You have progressed to a point that I find acceptable." Ebisu said looking at his pupil standing smugly over the near boiling waters of the hot springs district. He was far from perfect at it but he was no longer bobbing up and down, the ripples he was now creating would disappear with practice. In the span of what was essentially two days he had more than doubled his control, it was frightening. "We can move on to the next step of your training."

"I am awesome fear my power!" He yelled to the heavens as he danced around in victory.

It was almost freaky how the boy bounced back from the grueling workout he had received the previous day. As a Jinchuriki he had expected that the boy would recover faster than just about anyone else but to show no apparent repercussions was almost alarming. Quite frankly if he could push himself that far every day and bounce back like he had then there was no limit the kind of physical training he could undergo.

"Now that you have an acceptable control of your chakra we can start focusing on your Jutsu." Wait for large outburst of yelling.

"YAAAAAATTTTTTTAAAAAAAAA! I'm going to throw fireballs and shoot lighting and make tsunamis and make tornados and show up that moody bastard! I'm so gonna be Hokage!" He was then promptly silenced by a crushing punch sending him crashing into the steaming waters. He quickly bolted from the waters soaking and looking as red as a lobster. "That freaking hurt you bastard."

"A Hokage doesn't yell. They maintain a calm and collected appearance at all times. Now we need to discuss what is in the range of possibilities." Ebisu adjusted his glasses and sat down at a nearby bench where a soaking Naruto joined him. "We are going to focus on Jutsu next because you have no skill or ability whatsoever in hand to hand combat."

Naruto's jaw dropped at that. "What are you talking about I beaten loads of people, I was the third best in my class."

"No you were the most durable in your class, I've read the reports written by your teachers. You ran at your opponent with no forethought or plan and kept attacking until they got tired, all the while taking hit after hit. In the world of shinobi one hit is all you need. One kunai between the ribs, one broken leg, one slice to an artery is all it takes to kill someone."

Naruto looked defeated by the words of his tutor. While he wasn't like Sasuke who was a genius or even Lee who had dedicated his life to Taijutsu he couldn't be that bad. Could he?

"But luckily you have one thing they can never have." His ears perked up at that. "Chakra."

"Huh?"

"You have more Chakra than anyone in the Land of Fire, possibly more than anyone in the world."

"Really? I am awesome."

"But it comes at a price. It's part of the reason you have such lousy control of your chakra."

"Part of the reason? What else?"

"Your lack of hard work in trying to control it. The reports from the academy stated that any discipline requiring more than a token effort from you was all but ignored. It appears to me that you had no real drive to succeed." As each word hit Naruto looked more and more depressed. "So tell me why didn't you try?"

"The teachers would ignore me when I needed help or if I had a question. They'd always tell everyone how amazing Sasuke was."

"So because they weren't showering you with attention you gave up?" Ebisu asked. Naruto didn't respond in any way, he just sat there with his head hanging. Living a life off the recognition of others was no way to live. It would only lead to a hollow existence with nothing but despair in the end. "But enough about that tell me every Jutsu you know."

Naruto instantly perked up. "Sexy Jutsu, Harem Jutsu, Shadow clone, Henge, and uh that's it."

"…Urg."The Special Jonin mumbled. Really it had been the better part of a year since the kid's graduation and he only knew one technique that wasn't taught to each and every student? Granted the Shadow Clone technique was an A classed Forbidden Jutsu but still that was pathetic. Maybe he didn't have and talent for learning anything but the Shadow Clone. "So in essence you only know two Jutsu." Naruto instantly looked like someone had kicked his dog. "So Kakashi only taught you the Shadow Clone?"

"What, no? I learned that from the forbidden scroll I stole. Kakashi taught us tree walking and… I think that was it."

Was he fucking serious? In the four or five hours between the time he stole the scroll and when he fought Mizuki he had managed to not only use the Shadow Clone technique but use the larger Multi form as well? But that wasn't even the worst part, apparently Kakashi hasn't done anything. "You've been with him for most of a year and he hasn't taught you anything?" He was incredulous. "When did Kakashi teach you tree walking?"

"It was during our mission to wave. So about two months ago."

Two months ago? Ebisu was starting to get a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. The tree walking technique was something that should have been taught right out of graduation. It was the next step in chakra manipulation. Leaf sticking would force them to focus on one point and maintain a steady stream of Chakra, something that was paramount in the use of Jutsu. Tree walking forced a young shinobis to expel a decent amount of chakra at a steady amount thus deepening their reserves. Water walking was unique in that there was a constant change in the amount of chakra that needed to be produced, this helped prepare the ninja for when they would have to use varying Jutsu in quick succession. Each one would help each Genin learn new Jutsu.

He was almost afraid to ask. "So what have you been doing since you graduated?" And he terrified of the answer.

"A bunch of teamwork exercises, some spars, lots of D-rank missions, I really hate that cat. Aaaand maybe some survival stuff."

He _really_ hoped that this was just Naruto being an airhead and not paying attention for the entirety of his assignment to Team 7. Because if that really was the extent of the training that Kakashi had had them do then at the very minimum it was negligent disregard for the wellbeing of Team 7. "Do you have your teammates address?"

"Sasuke's?" Naruto asked sounding confused.

"No the other one."

"Sakura's sure why?"

"I just need to talk to her and see if that really is what Kakashi did or if you just weren't paying attention."

"Heeey I pay attention." Then Ebisu just looked at him with an expression that said 'Really?' ".. ok."

When he had reluctantly agreed to take Naruto on as a student he knew that it wasn't going to be a walk in the park but now it was looking like it was going to be the stuff of nightmares. He might be forced to review everything from the first day at the Academy to what was supposed to be taught after graduation. And that was something he definitely did _**not**_want to do. "I've seen your Henge and Shadow clones, you use too much chakra on both. With your recent improvement in control they should come easier to you. Try them out."

Naruto was back to being excited. He positioned himself in a wide stance and made a cross sign with his fingers. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He yelled. And in an explosion of smoke five new Narutos' appeared. "Wow that was so much easier, I only tried to make three of them." He said happily.

"You know you don't actually have to say the techniques name when you use it. And you definitely don't have to shout it. Have you ever tried to be quiet?"

Now Naruto looked annoyed. "Harem Jutsu!" And in an explosion of smoke all six Narutos had been replaced with completely nude busty blonde teenagers. Each one identical to the next.

"STOP that!" Ebisu said before slamming his fist down on the real Naruto. He/She disappeared in a cloud of smoke along with the clones. Stupid brat that sort of trick will only work once. "Can you even do a basic clone?"

"Not really." Naruto said looking a bit miffed.

That's not surprising given the level of his control. "What about the Kawarimi?"

"Which one was that?"

Without so much as a twitch Ebisu disappeared in a cloud of smoke. As the area cleared a log clattered to the ground. Ebisu reappeared from the shadows of a nearby tree.

"Oh! Yeah I remember that."

"So you have nothing offensive except to make clones and overwhelm your opponents with numbers?"

"Yep."

"Damn you Kakashi." He was going to have to report Kakashi. If this was the extent of Naruto's abilities then… then it was clear that Kakashi was unfit to command a Genin team and must be removed. "Fine then lets practice your Kawarimi for the rest of the day."

"What why?! I already know it."

Ebisu's response was to throw a kunai at Naruto, it impacted with a dull thud knocking him off his feet. Both the blade and the young ninja fell to the ground; the boy rolling around holding his head. "If I had thrown the blade point first you would have another hole in your head, for now you just have a bruise. This is a technique that you can only master by repeated use. So for the rest of the month we will be working at this periodically. Now dodge."

* * *

><p>It was sort of therapeutic, throwing pointy objects at a child. With all the unneeded stress that the boy was putting on him and with the headaches that Kakashi's apparent apathy towards his Genin were creating he needed this. The fact that it was actually teaching the orange clad fool something was just a bonus.<p>

"You did passably well, you only died fifty-seven times."

"I hate you." Naruto said lying in a heap in the middle of a clearing littered with kunai and logs. He was covered from head to toe in deep purple bruises.

"Though I am curious as to why you never returned fire. In most situations if someone is trying to kill you then you try and kill them back."

"You mean I could have attacked you?! Urg." Naruto just laid his head down and gave up.

"There are a few hours before dark. So until then lets practice your throwing." Naruto jumped to his feet an eager look on his face. "No not at me." Naruto deflated at that. "At that tree, try to knock that lower branch off." The tree he was referencing a small solitary branch only five or so feet from the ground.

The boy took a stance and started throwing.

"Why am I not surprised?" Naruto had hit the tree alright. The trunk and the roots and every branch within spitting distance. The branch, the only target was totally unscathed. They weren't even that far from the tree only thirty feet or so. "I don't have time to show you how to properly throw kunai and shuriken these are things that you should have become proficient at in the Academy. …Proficient means good at something."

"Oh." The look of confusion on his face disappeared.

"Your fellow ninja are an as of yet untapped source of information and advice. Someday their lives will be in your hands, they need you to be the best that you can be. Use that to your advantage. Have them train you in your spare time."

"So who should I talk to?" He asked confused.

"Anyone from your age group. Anyone that was in the exam but didn't make it to the final round. Any Chunin or Jonin that you're friendly with. Literally anyone. I have a lot of things I need to catch up on tomorrow. So for the rest of today and tomorrow I want you to find someone your age who will help you train. Does anyone come to mind?"

"Yeah I think I know someone."

"Good well I'll see you in two days." He said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

><p>Naruto wandered aimlessly. When he told the closet pervert that he had someone in mind that could help him he had lied. He didn't have friends and no one's parent would allow them to be seen with the likes of a demon.<p>

Who could he ask? Shikamaru? No he was in the final round and was probably training for it. Although now that he thought about it he was probably too lazy to even train at all.

Kiba? After the beat down he received it was unlikely that he would be willing to help.

Sakura? She didn't like to be bothered.

Kakashi had taken Sasuke to train. A bolt of anger shot through him at that thought. Once again he was sidelined while the miracle boy got everything.

Lee? No he was still hospitalized from the fight with Gaara.

Iruka? He was busy teaching at the academy.

The old man? No he was always busy. And probably even more so with all these foreign Shinobi in town.

That left him with no options. Looking up at the sky he noticed the position of the sun, the time was somewhere around four o-clock. Maybe he could go see Lee wish him well and all that.

With his mind decided he headed off in the direction of the hospital his head overflowing with thoughts. Of the exam. Of what he had learned with the closet pervert. Of those weird dreams. Of his place in life.

He had never been particularly welcome at the Hospital, probably because of how often he was there as a kid. Mostly due to a prank backfiring but every so often because of an angry drunk. So instead of going to the front desk and asking which room Lee was in, he snuck in a side entrance that was mostly unused. Then it was a simple matter of creating a few copies of himself transforming them into a smattering of civilians and janitorial staff and sending them looking for the right room.

After a few minutes of searching one of his clones found the right room.

* * *

><p>Ebisu sat at a desk in his apartment doing paperwork that he had been putting off while training Naruto. His mood was less than happy.<p>

"This could be a very big problem." He thought aloud. The village's resident Jinchuriki was a weakling. He had no real skills, he wasn't required to be a genius but the boy was as dumb as a rock. And currently there were no prospects of him improving. It would be a struggle to get the boy to an adequate level of skill, and there was no conceivable way it would be with the thirty days before the exam. For those nobles who were in the know about his condition they would walk away sorely disappointed. Konoha's Ace was a lie.

It was plausible that the boy's education had been sabotaged while in the academy, people were often shortsighted and irrational. But when he had graduated and placed on a team with possibly the third strongest Shinobi in the village his prospects should have improved. But instead they had only stagnated. It couldn't be that Kakashi hated the boy. Such a well-rounded ninja would be far too knowledgeable about sealing to do so. Add that to the fact that he was a student of the man that had put the Kyuubi in the boy and it made it even more unlikely.

But the fact still remained that Kakashi had done little to nothing to help Naruto grow as a Shinobi or as a person. This left him with few options. He would speak to Naruto's teammate and depending on the answer he would go from there. He sincerely hoped it was just Naruto spacing out and choosing to be a subpar ninja and refusing to learn because if Kakashi was failing as a Jonin then the Hokage would need to be notified. And that would not be a pleasant conversation.

* * *

><p>"Hey Lee how's it going?!" Naruto yelled as he walked into the room, completely oblivious to the atmosphere.<p>

Around Lee's hospital bed were his teammates. Their bushy browed teacher held his head in despair, every fiber of his being radiating misery. The female of the team didn't look much better, her eyes red and puffy. The Hyuga was his usual expressive self, just staring at Naruto as though he were a bug.

Lee himself was in one of those paper hospital gowns. The arm and leg that had been hit by Gaara's last attack were incased in casts. The normally exuberant Genin wore the look of complete and utter devastation. Tears were pouring down his face. "Lee has been judged unfit to continue as his career as a shinobi." Neji said without emotion. "Just as it was fated to be." He left the room without another word.

"I think it's best if you come back some other time Naruto." Their Jonin Sensei said without bothering to look up from his ruminations.

Naruto was in a mild state of shock. Bushy brows couldn't be a ninja anymore. That… that was just so wrong. He couldn't even imagine what he would be feeling if he was told he could no longer be a ninja. He looked up at those in the room. The girl was giving him a fierce look that told him he was not welcome. Their sensei was ignoring him. And Lee he was ignoring the world.

The blonde haired fool just slowly backed out of the room and left for anywhere but there.

* * *

><p>AN

Naruto is a walking Chakra battery. His mother had lots of chakra, then she became the Jinchuriki of the Ninetails. She then carried to term Naruto. So for nine-ish months he was exposed to the Ninetails chakra, in addition to whatever she would have passed on genetically. Then not ten minutes after his birth he was turned into a Jinchuriki who was exposed to Kurama for Twelve years(at this point in the story). Quite frankly he should be an artillery piece. Laying down lots of big Jutsu everywhere.

"Artillery is the god of war."

I tried to watch one of the Naruto movies to help with my other fic. Not ten minutes in all I could think was "Kill Naruto.", "Please someone kill him.", "Why can't you kill him?", "Kill him please.", "Think of the children, the world would be a much brighter place without him." Needless to say he didn't die, it made me sad.


	3. Chapter 3

The Lie I Live Chapter 3

For the thirty days leading up to the exam I'm going to be keeping the chapters relatively short. Usually below 5,000 words, or at least try to keep them below that. That way I can put out chapters faster.

Not much happens this chapter but it sets stuff in motion.

* * *

><p>This is the place. Ebisu looked at the home of Team 7's kunoichi. A modest one story home situated in the middle of the village. Her father was a fabric merchant and did fairly well. The mother was employed at one of the Nara's clinics in some fashion or another. Over all they were your average family living in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Further research into them was deemed unnecessary.<p>

A quick knock on the door and he could hear the sound of footfalls coming from within. The door opened to a pink haired woman presumably the mother.

"Hello, what can I do for you?" She said showing the least amount of herself as possible. And the look she was giving him was one of caution.

"Hello my name is Ebisu. I was wondering if I could talk to Sakura concerning her team."

"I'll go get her." She said before closing the door without another word.

"Well this is going to be fun." He said to himself.

* * *

><p>"This is bad." Ebisu said to himself as he walked home. The meeting with Sakura went better than he had hoped but it had none the less been damning for Kakashi. As he had hoped Naruto either didn't pay attention or didn't remember more than a few of the lessons their sensei had imparted on them. But the difference between what Naruto didn't remember and what Kakashi didn't teach wasn't comparable.<p>

They had been given no further chakra theory, something that was paramount in preparation for becoming a Chunin. No genin should be taking the exam without an understanding of chakra beyond the elementary lessons taught in the academy. Neither Sakura nor Naruto had any idea as to what affinity they might be, Kakashi hadn't even bothered to do that. Sasuke only knew because he was aware of it prior to the team's formation. While it wasn't anything technically wrong it was customary for genin to learn at least that; if for no other reason than to help them pick the type of shinobi they wanted to be.

Their sensei had also completely neglected to fix any of his team's weaknesses that had been observed in the academy.

Sasuke from most angles was a good ninja. He was dedicated to his chosen career. He was fast, strong, had a decent level of chakra control, above average reserves, and a drive that wasn't comparable with almost anyone else. He would probably be made a Chunin at the end of the exams, then in a few years make Jonin. On paper he looked like the perfect Shinobi, but his problem was twofold. Everything that he was had all been in the pursuit of killing his brother. The boy lived a hollow existence. And considering who his brother was his chosen path would kill him. His other fault was his blatant lack of teamwork. He felt he was better than everyone else and anyone else would just slow him down.

For Sakura it was her physical fitness, Chakra reserves, and conviction to be a kunoichi. Just by the interview he had had with her it was evident that she did the absolute minimum in terms of physical training. She was thin almost too thin, it was almost as if she was underfed. And Naruto had let slip during one of the training sessions that the girl had underdeveloped reserves. She was what twelve maybe thirteen? If she didn't start increasing her reserves by the time puberty comes into full affect her viability as a ninja would be forever stunted. Those combined to show him that she had no really desire to be a shinobi.

As for Naruto's failings well it was everything but his reserves.

Really all Kakashi had taught them was a slew of survival skills not taught in the academy, tree climbing only it had been months late, and apparently ineffective teamwork exercises. Overall it was not good.

Kakashi was a man who was almost legendary. As the student of the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze he was notable. As the Copy Ninja he was famous. And as a member of ANBU he was feared. Quite frankly the man had a lot to pass on and with no family his students were the obvious choice. But it seemed that he would go kicking and screaming before he would do his job. Was he really that lazy or was there some sort of deeper reason for it?

Unfortunately Ebisu was left with no other option than to take his findings to the Hokage. He needed to get home and finish the report of his findings.

* * *

><p>"Excuse me but is the Hokage available?" Ebisu asked the Hokage's secretary.<p>

"May I ask what this is concerning?" She replied without even bothering to look up from her work.

"An issue concerning Team seven." Normally if there was a problem concerning a genin team any reports would be made to a supervisory board who oversaw all the new teams. It would then be their job to resolve the issue by whatever means they felt were necessary. But Team Seven was a peculiarity; it was made up of one of the strongest Jonins in the village, the last loyal Uchiha, and the resident Jinchuriki. The Hokage had more than a few resources invested in Team Seven.

She looked up and stared him in the eye until it became uncomfortable. Then her eyes drifted to the folder he was folding and the fairly large stack of papers held within "Hold on for one second." She activated the intercom on the corner of her desk. "Sir." She spoke.

"_Yes?"_ The Hokage's voice came through the speaker.

"Ebisu is here concerning team seven."

"_Send him in."_

"The Hokage will see you now."

As Ebisu walked into his office he absently noted how it was exactly the same as it had been for the last ten years. Big oak desk with a slew of papers spread across it. The room was inviting in a lived in sort of way. Pictures of family, friends, and notable occasions dotted the walls. A couch sporting slight indentations on two of the cushions. And behind it all sat the Hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi, The God of Shinobi, the Professor.

"What did Naruto do now?" He asked good naturedly.

Pushing his glasses up on his nose Ebisu decided to just dive in. "Naruto's not the problem he's the symptom." He handed over the file to his superior. "After careful examination I believe that Kakashi Hatake needs to be relieved of command of Team Seven."

The fire shadow just groaned in response. "Sit down." He said before starting peruse the file.

In it was the approximate timeline of all of Team Seven's training, a timeline of all its missions, a dossier of each genin to the best of his abilities, a dossier of each genin as written by Iruka Umino at their time of graduation from the academy, the testimonies of Sakura and Naruto, and the suggested steps to resolve the situation.

As the old man continued to read his demeanor shifted from invested to annoyed to an unreadable mask. Somewhere between the first page and the fourth he had pulled out his pipe and started puffing away.

After finally finishing the report he laid it on his desk and swiveled his chair to look out over the village. He sat like that for a few minutes contemplating the situation. Finally he spoke. "What is your evaluation of Naruto?"

"He should not be a genin. As the report by Umino stated he is dismal at bookwork, geography, math, chakra control, chakra theory, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, projectile skills, team tactics, individual tactics, and political theory. His only strengths are his large chakra reserves, trap making abilities, transformation technique, and Shadow Clone Technique. The only reason he is alive is because of his status as a Jinchuriki. His Jutsu list consists of The Replacement technique, the Transformation Technique, and the Shadow Clone Technique. And just yesterday he finally became acceptable at water walking. "

The old man just let out a long exhale of smoke and tension. "Sakura Hurano."

"She should not be a genin. It seems Umino's report is correct her only reason for being a shinobi is to be close to Sasuke Uchiha. Her physical fitness is a joke, her reserves are pitiful, and her Taijutsu is uninspired. Her only redeeming qualities are her Chakra Control and book smarts."

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"I have not had the chance to speak with him in person but from every source I can find he seems to be doing fine as a Shinobi. Though Umino's report suggests it is mostly through self-effort than by any sort of help."

"Your report indicates he may be unstable."

"His reasons for everything he does is to and I quote "kill a certain man". Its not be healthy."

"At the end of your report you suggest several steps be taken. What is your reasoning?"

"Kakashi should be removed as Commander of Team Seven for dereliction of duty. This should be made aware to all Jonin sensei's to lessen chances of this happening again. I also suggest either a demotion or some sort of public punishment for Kakashi for the same reason. An audit of all current teams for similar behavior to make sure this isn't a widespread problem. An audit of the Academy to tighten graduation requirements. And a removal of Team Seven from the active roster until such a time that they can be brought up to speed or removed from the Ninja corps."

At this time the Professor's fingers were thrumming across the chair's armrest. "ANBU." He said.

The shadows obscuring a corner of the room shifted, then started to take form. One instant there was shadow the next there were two men. Black pants with a black shirt under a grey vest. Over his face the man wore a white porcelain mask, the image of a snake painted in deep green adorned its exterior. This was one of Konoha's silent protectors, ANBU.

"Fetch me Iruka Umino." The Hokage ordered. Without twitching a muscle one of the men disappeared back into the shadows. "Recall Kakashi Hatake." This one disappeared in a cloud a soundless smoke.

"What is your recommendation for Team Seven individually?"

"I will continue to train Naruto until the exam next month, hopefully by that time he will be able to put a presentable display." The final round of the exam was always held where the general populous could watch. It allowed potential customers to sample the wares as it were. As Naruto currently was he would charge blindly at his opponent then be promptly defeated. It would most likely lead to a small drop in the number of missions the Village was contracted to do. "Beyond that he needs to go back to the academy until he can understand the basics."

The Hokage turned his chair around to face the Special Jonin, he did not look very happy. "Once Iruka gets here I will make a decision. Continue."

"Sakura Hurano needs to be sat down and have explained to her what happens to weak kunoichi." A weak kunoichi is a captured kunoichi. And nothing that happens to a captive is pretty. "After which she will need to make a decision of whether to start trying or to go civilian… though now that I think about it she might do well in Records or Cryptology department." There was always a need for file clerks.

The Hokage was still just staring at him looking none too happy. "As for Sasuke, he will most likely be promoted to Chunin after the exam at that point I would suggest a series of trainers. Maybe introduction to the Hunter Corps." The Hunter Corps were those tasked with hunting down missing nin whether they be from Konoha or from other villages.

"You have given me much to think about." As he said that he had a far off look to his eyes as if he was seeing something that wasn't there. "What do you plan to train Naruto in?"

"Use of Kunai and Shuriken as much as I can. Speed, strength, endurance, Chakra control, balance, and Taijutsu. Within the next couple days I'm going to get him started on his affinity and then depen"

He was cut off as the light on the intercom started flashing. "Just a minute." Sarutobi pressed one of the buttons. "Yes?"

"_Sir an Iruka Umino is here for you." _The voice of the Hokage's secretary said over the intercom.

"Let me finish this meeting first." He replied

"_Yes sir."_ She said before the light went dark.

"Continue." Sarutobi ordered.

"Depending on what his affinity is I might be able to help him get a Jutsu or two down before the exam. I intend to run him into the ground until the last week." He continued casually.

The Professor just nodded along as he spoke. "Yes from what you wrote that seems to be the best option. Now I'm going to have a team commence their own investigation of these matters before I move forward. Should they come to the same conclusion as you I will take your suggestions under advisement. Now is there anything else you need to discuss?"

Ebisu reaffixed his glasses on his nose in response. "Yes actually. I'm going to need to concentrate on Naruto for the foreseeable future so I'm going to have to postpone my sessions with Konohamaru."

"I'll break the bad news to him." He said with a hint of mirth. "Send in Iruka, you are dismissed."

"Sir." Ebisu saluted. And made his way out the office. Stepping into the next room he saw Iruka Umino sitting on one of the provided chairs. "He's ready to see you." He said to the scarred Chunin.

As Ebisu continued out to finish up the rest of his work. The voice of the Hokage rang out before Iruka shut the door. "I need your opinion."

* * *

><p>"I need your opinion." He said to the young Chunin.<p>

"Yes sir."

"Should Naruto and Sakura have graduated?"

Iruka looked stumped for a second, and then his face started to deepen into a frown. "I believed that they could become splendid shinobi if given the chance but..."

"They were not ready." This situation should never have happened. Under no circumstance should someone be made a shinobi if they were not ready. Naruto had only graduated because of the guilt of one man and the debt of another. Sakura only graduated because on paper she was a model civilian applicant.

"I want you to perform an investigation of the academy as to the state of the graduating students and any improvements you would suggest. You may create a team of up to three additional people to assist you. You have three days to complete this mission. A substitute will be filling in at the academy until the missions end. Any questions?"

"May I interview current genin as an additional source?"

"A good idea but I will be detailing a separate team to do just that. Dismissed."

Sarutobi sat there contemplating everything that would have to be done. He would have to notify the Genin Team Oversight Board, the Department Head of Shinobi Education, the Shinobi Promotions Board and the Various Clan Heads. That last one would be fun, they were always a pain in the ass when it came to dealing with any outside education.

"ANBU." Once more a man dressed in black melted out of the shadows. "Fetch me… " What were their names. Always got the boring jobs, complained a lot? Ah that right. "Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki."

* * *

><p>With barely any sign of outward effort Kakashi tossed the struggling form of Sasuke through the air. "Oh that was good you almost managed to scratch my book that time." He said before crouching down and resumed reading his orange colored smut.<p>

Sasuke managed to get himself back up on shaky legs and prepared to charge Kakashi again. But before he could the cry of a hawk drew his attention as well as that of his Sensei.

"_Well this can't be good."_ Kakashi thought to himself as looked upon one of Konoha's messenger hawks spiraling down towards them.

* * *

><p>AN- Another down and it took me less than a year, im on a roll.


	4. Chapter 4

The lie I live Chapter 4

Im really conflicted about this chapter ive always wanted to see the old man in this way but have never found one. Bit of an info dump this chapter but it is fairly important.

* * *

><p><strong>26 Days until the Exam<strong>

The pounding was incessant. Never stopping and only seeming to grow in intensity. Its continuation would force him to do something he really didn't want to do, but none the less he had to. So with great effort Naruto rolled over and greeted the morning light that had started to pour through the window. He was in his dilapidated apartment on his hard mattress in the village that hated him. Once again he was covered in a thick sheen of sweat; his sleep fraught with people and places he didn't know. "What time is it?" He said looking over to his old alarm clock. It read five fifteen, AM.

The sound of the pounding started to become more and more clear as his mind began to empty of the disturbing shades shown to him by the fox in last night's dreams. Even as the memories faded he could still hear the clash of metal the screams of the dying and feel the sadness of a man forced to act.

"Naruto are you even in there?" Yelled his tutor's voice from outside.

"Just a minute!" He responded.

"Meet me on top of the roofs of the market district in ten minutes." Ebisu's said his voice drifting through the thin and damaged walls.

"Urg." he grumbled. It was far too early for training. He knew that he needed every second of practice he could get if he was to beat Neji in the finals. But his thoughts from yesterday weighed heavily on him. The knowledge that Lee could never be a shinobi again was devastating. Even if he only knew bushy brows for a week or so it was still a shock to the system. Even though he was ordered to find someone to help him with his throwing yesterday he had instead stewed in the situation about Lee.

It wasn't so much as he felt bad about a good friend being injured, but about the boys dreams being crushed. Injury and death were the most common ways for a shinobi to leave service and were a fairly common occurrence. But he made the jump of logic to what if his own dreams were made unreachable. If he was never able to become Hokage, if he lost his reason for to go on, would he have the strength to live in a world that despised him?

The whole day of ruminating on that question granted him an answer. "I don't know."

* * *

><p>"You're late." His teacher said to him as he landed upon the grocer's roof. "I said ten minutes not fifteen."<p>

"Sorry." He replied with no real energy behind it.

"Never mind that. Today we kill two birds with one stone. For the rest of the day you will be running along the roof tops of the village." He said pushing up his dark tinted glasses higher up on his nose.

"Okaaay?" Naruto responded not really seeing how that would help.

"To make it interesting you are going to be running as close to the edge of the buildings as possible while being chased by your clones."

"Urg." That sounded annoying and really tiring. His clones could be merciless sometimes. "Why? What will that do?" He asked.

Ebisu was almost taken aback at that, it was an almost insightful question. "I've noticed that you are for a lack of a better word clumsy. You have poor control of your body's movements. You flail around a lot. Your balance is shoddy and you need to learn to dodge instead of taking every hit. For a normal person I would address each of these individually but given the amount of time we have and your… aptitude for learning I felt it was best to do it all at once. This will also help build up stamina and speed. A sort of sink or swim scenario."

Naruto stood there looking at him with a contemplative face as if he was actually trying to puzzle out his teachers plan. "Well what are you waiting for? Go."

Without further thought Naruto created three clones without uttering a word and then took off running.

His tutors eye brows nearly shot off his forehead at his student's apparent display of ability of with the shadow clone. For the first time since they met Naruto created a clone without screaming out the techniques name. Maybe the boy was improv…

Ebisu's thoughts stopped as Naruto now traversing a sloped roof slipped on a tile still damp from the morning's condensation and crashed into an alley and what sounded like series of garbage cans.

Racing over to the alley to make sure the boy was alright the Jonin saw that Naruto was extracting himself from a large pile of steel garbage cans and their contents. "Did it ever occur to you to use your chakra control exercises to stick to sloping or slippery surfaces?"

"…Damn it!" He yelled as his clones laughed at their creator's predicament.

"Back to work." Ordered Ebisu.

* * *

><p>"You wished to see me sir?" Kakashi said as he entered the Hokage's office.<p>

The old man looked up from a stack of paperwork he was reviewing. A pair of small reading glasses affixed to his face. "Yes please take a seat." As the Jonin took a seat the old man leaned back in his chair. "This meeting is to inform you of the charges of neglect that are being levied against you." He said bluntly.

Kakashi was taken aback. Neglect? In what way? Couldn't be his tardiness right? "In what regards?"

"Your genin team." He said holding up a hand to forestall Kakashi's protests. "By assigning Ebisu to Naruto as a tutor you set various things in motion. Ebisu is nothing if not dedicated to his job as an instructor. He took notice of Naruto's deficiencies and aimed to correct them. Ebisu has described Naruto as below the level of Genin in overall ability."

"What do you mean?" Sure the kid was dumber than some rocks he's met but Naruto was the foundation of the team.

"Ebisu has rated Naruto's skills as either failing or nonexistent in the following categories. Tracking, all forms of Projectiles, Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Geography, Political Theory, Team tactics, Individual Tactics, Chakra Control, Chakra Theory, and overall problem solving. The charges of neglect stem from the fact that all these problems existed prior to the formation of team seven, and none have been addressed since the formation of the team."

Naruto was dumber than a block of wood, he could barely follow orders on a good day but he was an essential part of the team. Without him they never would have stopped Gato and team seven would have died in the Forest of Death. "There must be some mistake."

"I personally selected Ebisu as an instructor for my grandson, you yourself entrusted the man with one of you Genin. He does not make mistakes of this kind. As insurance I had a separate team formed to go over his finding and perform their own investigation. They concur with him almost completely. I created another team to audit the academy. Needless to say their findings were not comforting."

"In addition to Naruto's deficits there was also the matter of Sakura. The team that I had created to confirm Ebisu's findings also interviewed and tested Miss Hurano. While having a decent foundation in book work her overall physical abilities and list of skills is practically nonexistent."

"An oversight board will review the evidence gathered and then render judgment. In interest of keeping a strong outward appearance this will not take place until after the end of the Chunin exams. The most likely ruling is that you will be stripped of your role as sensei of team seven. You will most likely be given the chance to keep Sasuke on as an apprentice. Naruto and Sakura will be split up and either absorbed into other teams or will float between teams depending on the missions available. A fine or number of hours of community service may also be levied against you. Do you have any questions?"

"Will this be made public knowledge?"

"That will depend on both the ruling of the board and the actions we decide to take in response to the situation at the academy."

"Will I be forced to lead any more Genin teams?"

"I should think not, but again that will not be my decision. Is there anything else you would like to add?"

"May I finish preparing Sasuke for the exams?"

"You are still the Jonin sensei of team seven it is your duty to do so. However there is something I need to discuss with him before you go so if you could please send him to me. You are dismissed."

"Yes sir." As Kakashi rose from his seat he bowed to his superior before turning to leave.

"Just out of curiosity" The Hokage started. "given who Naruto is to you, hell given how much team seven resembles your own genin team why did you allow this to happen?" He asked out of genuine concern.

"… I … don't know." The one eyes man said as he left the room contemplating what he could have done differently.

* * *

><p>"I need you to understand that depending how you answer my next question the truth will bring you great suffering." The Hokage said as he looked over the young form of the last loyal Uchiha.<p>

"Sir?" The boy asked confused. First Kakashi had been recalled for no apparent reason. Then he had been summoned to the Hokage's office. Normally Genin never saw their venerable leader let alone speak to him in person. But thinking back team seven had been different. A couple times when they were doing D-Ranked missions the Hokage himself had been the one to assign them. Sasuke after learning a little more about his team mates figured it was either due to the weird relation Naruto had with the man or with Kakashi. So as to the reason why he was here he did not know.

"Some things have been set in motion and I felt that with what's happening you deserved to know the truth. So I ask you this, do you wish to know the real reason why Itachi destroyed your clan?" He saw how the boy flashed through a myriad of emotions. Confusion, anger, hurt, curiosity, and finally hate.

"He did it to test his power." The boy said automatically, his mind flashing back to those three days he spent in that hellish illusion.

"Do you wish to know the real reason?"

"…Yes."

"The short answer is that he was ordered to."

"What do you mean?"

"You have to understand, I am not the man I used to be. After retaking the mantle of the Hokage I delegated much of my power to other people. I am a weak Kage, essentially a figurehead. I am a reluctant leader, when the Forth died the village needed a stabilizing influence in order to rebuild and there was no one with both the power and the respect that could take the job. My reinstatement to Kage was made without a single objection. After five years I felt it was time to step down again. I began the search for my replacement."

"My first choice was my student Jiraiya of the Sannin. But he felt he could better protect Konoha's interests out in the field, ultimately he was right. Then I looked to your sensei Kakashi. He had the recognition and after a few more years of work I felt he would have the power. But ultimately I found him to be unfit for the role. The Third War and the loss of his teacher, the Forth Hokage, left him a broken man. I then searched the remainder of my forces for a worthy replacement. ANBU held a few potentials but each of them for one reason or another was unsuited to take the mantle. I searched the main forces, the medical forces, the hunter forces, even the clans. Ultimately there was only one person who I felt could hold the position. But he was very adamant about not wanting the job."

"All the while my position within the political structure of the village was weakening. After the Kyuubi attack your clan faced a lot of scrutiny. There were rumors of S\shinobi seeing an image of the Sharingan reflected within the Kyuubi's eyes, and with the legend of your ancestor Madara controlling the beast the rumors wouldn't fade. Ultimately relations between the Uchiha and the village soured. As the rumors continued to persist the clan was forced to move to the outskirts of the village. Your father and many of those under him felt that the Uchiha were being ostracized and were being further pushed away from governing the village."

"There was talk of them leaving the village to join another or start their own. I was undergoing negotiations with your father for months but to no avail. Then one day your brother approached me. He told me that your clan was planning a coup. He himself had been assigned to assassinate me and my family. The amount of evidence he obtained was irrefutable. A coup of such would have completely destabilized the village and would have given both Iwa and Kumo the opportunity they need to attack us. So in hopes of saving the village I continued to negotiate giving up more and more concessions. It was only a few days before the coup was to take place that I struck upon an idea. The Uchiha wanted more say in the governing of the village and resented the fact that there had never been an Uchiha as Hokage. So I would give them just that. I planned to nominate Itachi as my successor. He was an ANBU Captain, he was the eldest son of the Clan's head, and his loyalty to the village superseded all else. In the time while I was preparing this certain elements within my administration took it upon themselves to act. They ordered Itachi to kill the ringleaders the clan. He would then be installed as the Clan Head. The younger generations would be allowed to live and the threat to the village would have ended."

"But something happened, I'm not sure what it was but there is evidence to suggest that there was at least one more person there. All but you were killed. An ANBU passing by observed your brother destroying each set of Sharingan. But later examination of the scene showed that many had been surgically removed."

"Your brother was a powerful shinobi but it would be impossible for him to kill that many fully trained shinobi by himself. Even the clan members that were out of the village at the time were killed, their eyes removed. It is these facts that leads me to believe that another force was at work and your brother was not responsible for the complete annihilation of your clan."

Sasuke sat their stunned. Was everything he held true all a lie? "You're lying." He managed to get out.

The Hokage stood up from his chair and walked over to a bare section of wall. Laying his hand on it a complex seal spread forth from his touch. A small section of wall faded from view leaving a small shelf built into the wall. On it was a row of neatly organized folders and scrolls.

"It has been indicated by the Yamanaka that counseled you after the incident and the teachers in the academy your sole reason for living is to kill Itachi. I will not lie to you as you are now you will fail, Jariaya is probably the only one loyal to the village that could fight him on equal footing and even then it would not be a sure thing."

"You and your bloodline are powerful resources, most Kages would keep you in the village place you under house arrest and force you to rebuild your clan. But as I have said I am a weak Kage and I will not decide how you should live your life. So I will ask you this. Can you continue to serve me and this village as a loyal shinobi? You are a genin and as such hold no strategic information that could be used against the village so you may resign your commission as a Shonobi of the Hidden Leaf Village, sell your property, leave the village, and try to make your way in the world. If you do decide to take this course of action I would suggest seeking service in the Court of the Fire Lord, he has a small group of Shinobi loyal to him that would probably be willing to train you."

Sasuke looked dazed and confused.

"Your brother is an amazing man, don't ever forget that. If there is anyone to blame for the course of your life then it would be me. If you still wish to kill Itachi as some form of revenge then there is nothing but warn you. Just be aware that six years ago your brother was on the cusp of becoming an S-Ranked ninja. He has spent years running from hunter nin of every village looking for either his bounty or his bloodline. As you are now you are not enough. But with help I have no doubt you can become a very powerful shinobi. Konoha has had a history of producing S-Ranked Ninja. From Jiraiya, Tsunade, Orochimaru, Sakumo Hatake, Minato Namikaze, even myself. If you do decide to stay with us and you make it to Chunin resources will become available to you that will help you grow stronger."

"If you decide to take revenge against me I will warn you while I may not be the man I once was I am still the strongest soldier in the village. And if you to try and find those responsible for giving Itachi the order I wish you good luck. The man responsible is the single most terrifying ninja I have ever met." The old man reached into his desk and pulled out his pipe. With a flick of his finger it was lit and he was puffing away.

"I realize that this is all a lot to take in and that this was probably not the best time to tell you this but I felt it needed to be done. This village along with the entire system of shinobi villages was founded upon the backs of the Uchiha and the Senju. With only one Senju and two Uchiha remaining in this world it would be shame for that legacy to end."

Sasuke sat there in a mute shock as he looked over the file his superior had given him. It was true. All the information coincided with what he remembered. Late gatherings of all the most influential and powerful Uchiha, his brother becoming more distant as the date drew near, the constant stockpiling of weapons, the increased security. He didn't know what was real anymore.

Was his place here with these people that sentenced his family to death? Was it with his brother who killed his parents? Was it out on his own? With a different village? Ever since that horrible night he had known what he must do with his life. But now? His life was no longer that clear.

* * *

><p>Sarutobi looked at the door to his office with unseeing eyes as he contemplated what had just happened. Was it wise to tell the boy the truth? Definitely not. It would have been better for the village to just let Itachi's disease kill him in a few years thus allowing Sasuke to move on without ever knowing the truth. Was it smart to allow the boy the choice to leave? No but doing so allowed the old man to feel like he had regained a piece of his soul that he had discarded long ago.<p>

Had he just pushed a powerful force out of the village? Had he created an enemy? Or had he just broken an already damaged boy? It was too soon to tell but for the first time since the night the Uchiha were reduced to two Sarutobi felt a great weight lifted from his shoulders.

* * *

><p>AN

So Sarutobi owns up to his mistakes, not something ive ever seen before. Sure ive seen him feel guilt or apologize but ever full on own it. This wasn't in the original outline and the idea came out of nowhere. Still conflicted about the whole thing.


End file.
